The
interview with Contributing Editor Jesse Birnbaum opens with a
discussion
about the humorous aspects of his articles (you have
a reprint of "The Perils of Being a Lefty," from the April 15,
1991 issue of Time). Birnbaum believes the most important element in any journalistic writing is the lead and frequently finds himself devoting more time to the opening of his story than to the rest of the article. He suggest writing poetry - which requires succinctness, the use of metaphors, and unique ways of thinking - as a way to improve one's writing abilities. Finally, he advocates "stepping away" from a piece of writing as a way of overcoming writer's block.

Note: Let's not be too frustrated with Birnbaum's constant use of the male gender when referring - as he speaks - to writers and readers; he's from a previous generation where that was quite acceptable. Please also note this is not an error he makes in his writing.

How
to decide what to write for a publication such as Time?
Find something interesting, then have fun with it. Birnbaum says he
begins
his writing assignments with a lead that gets him running, then
reshapes
the piece to keep it interesting to write - and thus read. "Things
have to occur to you," he maintains. He cites the example of the VCR
Plus mechanism his son gave him, saying that after being befuddled with
its programming, "now I can think of forty funny things to write about
... but if (my boss had instructed me to write a piece on the VCR
Plus),
I don't think I could have."

You
do have to have an idea to communicate, then - through trial and
error - find the best way to say it. Once you have all your "raw
material"
together, you must find the lead, a way of "entrapping the
reader;
getting the reader to want to pay attention after the second sentence.
Sometimes writing the lead takes more time than writing the rest of the
story." You may need to throw many leads away to get to the best one.

If Birnbaum gets to the "justification" of a piece - telling readers why they should continue reading - and finds he's having difficulty, he believes the problem is often in the lead. "The lead is the roadmap for the rest of the story.... But if that lead - in the first place - was the wrong map, that is what caused you to run in that jam in the third paragraph. So my ... experience is that if I go back and recast that lead totally, go to a totally different idea, I'm likely to get over that hump in the third paragraph."

When
writing cover stories, the late Paul O'Neil, a famous Time writer known for his style, would write the stories after carefully going over his huge piles of research materials twice. He would then write the cover story without going back to the primary materials, maintaining the stuff he remembered was the good stuff anyway. The details you don't remember may not be worth reporting. Another cover writer was so good at making transitions between and within paragraphs he could compose a story based solely on his hundreds of 3 x 5 notecards after placing them in what he considered to be the right order.

Birnbaum
has personally found outlines to be "of minimal help." Instead he
relies on his notes and underlinings of the primary materials,
paying a great deal of attention to transitions as he composes. "Get
your lead written, know what you want to say, and let every sentence
call
forth the next idea." (This is what we would call "transitions
within paragraphs.")

Again,
transitions between paragraphs are quite important as well. "One
ought to look back at the last sentence, or maybe the penultimate
sentence,
of the previous paragraph, get a thought from that paragraph and evoke
the
idea or even a key word from that thing.... I think more thought about
what was said in the preceding two sentences ... in terms of thematic
material,
can help you find a way of finding a transition into your next subject,
or the next scene, as it were." (An interesting notion, as readers
do "see" your essay as images of a story in their heads if your
piece is well written.)

"Finally,
as you go toward the end, I've found a good way of organizing
a good story is, when possible, to evoke in your last paragraph (or
sentence)
a thought that was made in your lead. (It) comes full cycle; gives you
a sense of unity." (We've called this technique "bookends.")

While
none of us want to fail, we should not be afraid to take "desperate
chances"; risk some ego, that is, with our writing. Read everything,
practice always. Write for the wastebasket, if
necessary. Try writing
poetry; it requires succintness and metaphor. "It's a helpful thing
to learn to write economically."

"The
bad moments are many." Leads are the toughest. As mentioned
previously, a good four-sentence lead may take more time to write than
the
rest of the piece. "But it's the key to making the rest of the story
work, as we know."

When
utterly stuck on a transition, on how to move forward with your
writing (due to fatigue, say), Birnbaum finds going to sleep and
waiting
for the answer to appear in the shower to be helpful. Let the piece
marinade;
it will come. (Obviously, this requires keeping up with due dates for
assignments. You've no time for such a "marinade" if the piece is due
in hours.)

Does
it get easier? No. But certain techniques can help you get through
the rough spots. Clearly, long cover pieces are tougher to write than
short
ones. However, every writing experience helps those which follow;
things
can fall into place. "But every story is a new story, every opportunity
is a new opportunity. You fail less often ... through sheer
experience.... I would pay to do it, but don't tell the boss."